Sergey Milinkovic-Savic is a professional footballer playing as a midfielder in the Italian Lazio and the national team of Serbia. Previously played as part of Vojvodina and Genka. Among the achievements of the football player, victory in the Serbia Cup 2014 can be noted. As part of the youth national team of Serbia, he is the 2015 world champion. Participant of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, spent all the matches of the group stage.
Biography and the beginning of a football career
Milinkovic-Savic was born on February 27, 1995 in the city of Lleida, Spain. Father Nikol Milinkovich played for the local football club Lleida. Sergei himself is a pupil of the football club Vojvodina. The guy started his adult career in 2013 in the main team of the same club, in which he spent one season, where he played 13 official matches and scored 3 goals.
With his game for Vojvodina, Sergey Milinkovich-Savich attracted the attention of the representatives of the Belgian Genk coaching staff, with whom he signed a five-year contract in 2014. He played for this team the whole next season, taking part in 24 games, for which he scored 5 goals.
Play Style: Universal Soldier
Football player Milinkovic-Savic has established himself as a universal midfielder, which is very much appreciated in modern football. This means that the Serbian football player is able to play in any role midfield line. His playing style is compared with the styles of Zinedine Zidane, Yaya Toure, Paul Pogba and many others. Sergey combines all the technical qualities due to which you can play in the supporting, attacking or flanking zone. Nevertheless, Milinkovich-Savich basically plays the role of a “box-to-box” midfielder, that is, manages to attack and defend, linking these lines together.
Career at Lazio: second scorer with the Romans
After the triumph of the Serbs at the World Youth Championship, Milinkovic-Savic received an offer from the Italian “Lazio”, which paid 9 million euros for the midfielder. From the very arrival of the Roman team, the player began to be actively involved in Serie A matches. In general, in the debut season, Milinkovic-Savic played in 35 games in various tournaments.
In the following seasons, the playing time of the Serbian midfielder in Lazio gradually increased, and in the 2017/18 season he also began to regularly score goals. According to the results of the season, Sergey Milinkovich-Savich scored 12 goals in the championship, becoming the club’s second scorer, after the “clean” forward Ciro Immobile.
Serving for Serbia National Team
In 2013, Sergey made his debut for the youth team of Serbia, where he subsequently took part in 17 games and scored 4 goals.
Since 2014, Milinkovich-Savich began to be involved in the youth team. He held 13 official matches at this level and became the world champion among youth in 2015.
At the end of 2017, he made his debut in official matches as part of the national team of Serbia. In 2018, he went as part of a national team to the World Cup in Russia, where he took part in all matches - against Costa Rica, Brazil and Switzerland. Experts note that Sergey Milinkovich-Savich did not reveal his potential at the world championship at all, which was partly why his team did not qualify for the playoffs of the competitions.